Men's Basketball Wraps Up 2017 With 72-70 Victory Over Bentley

Bridgeport, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport men's basketball team never trailed in the game, and the Purple Knights snapped a two-game losing skid with a narrow 72-70 home non-conference win over the visiting Bentley University Falcons on Sunday afternoon to close out the 2017 portion of this year's schedule.  With the win, Bridgeport is now 10-4 overall.  Bentley is now 7-5 following the loss.

UB led 42-33 at the half.  Bentley managed to tie the contest at 63-63 with just over four minutes to play, but the Falcons would never take the lead on the afternoon, as the Purple Knights would go on a 7-2 run to take a 70-65 lead which they never relinquished.

Freshman Yasir Lawrence (Elmont, N.Y.), making his first career start, helped propel the Purple Knights to the victory as he scored a career-high 24 points hitting 9-of-14 field goals and 6-of-9 three-point shots.

Lawrence was joined in double figures by a pair of players of the UB bench in juniors Dennis Green (Bronx, N.Y.) with 14 points and Hashem Abbas (Nahlus, Palestine), who had 12 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Up next, the Purple Knights return to East Coast Conference play on Wednesday night when they travel to our Nation's Capital to take on the University of the District of Columbia.  Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.